Read the passage and answer the questions:
Traditional views of security do not rule out other forms of cooperation as well. The most important of these are disarmament, arms control, and confidence building. The 1972 Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) and the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) banned the production and possession of these weapons. More than 155 states acceded to the BWC and 193 states acceded to the CWC. Both conventions included all the great powers. But the superpowers — the US and Soviet Union — did not want to give up the third type of weapons of mass destruction, namely, nuclear weapons, so they pursued arms control.
Arms control regulates the acquisition or development of weapons. The Anti-ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty in 1972 tried to stop the United States and Soviet Union from using ballistic missiles as a defensive shield to launch a nuclear attack. While it did allow both countries to deploy a very limited number of defensive systems, it stopped them from large-scale production of those systems.
The US and Soviet Union signed a number of other arms control treaties including the Strategic Arms Limitations Treaty II or SALT II and the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) of 1968 was an arms control treaty in the sense that it regulated the acquisition of nuclear weapons: those countries that had tested and manufactured nuclear weapons before 1967 were allowed to keep their weapons; and those that had not done so were to give up the right to acquire them. The NPT did not abolish nuclear weapons; rather, it limited the number of countries that could have them.
What did the NPT do?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → It limited the number of countries that could possess nuclear weapons
Option (1) It abolished nuclear weapons — Incorrect. The NPT did not abolish nuclear weapons.
Option (2) It limited the number of countries that could possess nuclear weapons — Correct. The NPT limited the number of countries that could have nuclear weapons: countries that had tested and manufactured them before 1967 could keep them, and the others gave up the right to acquire them.
Option (3) It forced the US to engage India to develop a nuclear weapon — Incorrect. The NPT limited the countries that could have nuclear weapons; India considered it discriminatory and refused to sign it, so it could not have pushed India towards a weapon.
Option (4) It led to both horizontal and vertical proliferation of nuclear weapons — Incorrect. Horizontal proliferation means nuclear weapons spreading to more countries; vertical proliferation means the countries that already have them building more. The NPT was meant to limit the number of countries that could have nuclear weapons, so it was aimed against horizontal proliferation, not a cause of it.
Note: The concepts in Option (4), ‘horizontal proliferation’ and ‘vertical proliferation’, are not in NCERT (2025-26); explained here for the benefit of the students.
NCERT: Contemporary World Politics — Chapter 5: Security in the Contemporary World (2025-26)
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